And a local health service campaigner has claimed that the growing number of Fermanagh people having to travel to Derry for routine treatment could be attributed partly to staffing shortages.

Private recruitment firms attracting overseas nurses to the North during an unprecedented staffing crisis have received a 40 per cent cut of a £1.8 million NHS campaign budget.

The Irish News reports that despite the investment, only 133 new recruits are in post across the north’s hospitals and community sector since the international drive was launched by the Department of Health in 2016. 

Department chiefs have insisted they are on course to meet their target of employing 622 international nurses by March 2020 but The Irish News ‘understands concerns have been raised privately about the scheme’s slow pace and soaring bill.’ 

Just last month, Drumclay Care Home in Enniskillen which is owned by Ebbay Ltd announced that  is closing due to the ‘inability to recruit the quality and quantity of skilled and experienced nursing staff required.’ 

South West Acute Hospital also recently reported experiencing a staff shortage with Maternity Services, and in July they stated ‘The Trust can confirm that it has been experiencing some recruitment and retention challenges with medical staff in maternity services.’ This staffing issue has now been resolved.  

Donal O’Cofaigh from Fermanagh Save Our Services believes that the ‘cost of paying these for-profit agencies is ballooning and drawing scarce resources from front-line services forcing ever greater reliance on agency staffing in what is becoming a vicious circle.’

“One of the areas we evidenced in our presentation in Enniskillen was the increasing reliance on private sector nursing agencies. 

“The impact of this engineered crisis on places like Fermanagh is well-known – leaving services understaffed and forcing patients to travel for services that should and could be provided locally. Indeed our campaign fears that our growing dependence on agency staffing will provide a target for upcoming cutback decisions under the ongoing Bengoa reform process.